>>>>In the UK it was possible to borrow more than the value of the house (typically 125%). Again the expectation was that rising prices would take care of the excess amount.
>>>
>>>I think you could get a loan for more than the purchase price here if the house needed repair, and you were borrowing to do that. The idea was that the work would raise the value of the house, of course.
>>>
>>>Tamar
>>
>>I thought that was mostly home equity loans which actually borrowed on the value of the house against the amount owed. I didn't realize you could borrow over the value of the house for home improvement.
>
>I have a vague memory that our mortgage on our first house plus our down payment totalled more than the purchase price. The house needed a lot of work. Hard to remember now since that was 29 years ago, and we sold that house 17 years ago.
>
>Tamar

How could it be? For official purposes, Mortgage+DownPayment+ClosingCost=PurchasePrice though people used to disregard closing cost.